AUGUSTA — The Board of Education approved a $26.8 million school budget Wednesday that is expected to lead to a tax increase of just less than 2 percent.

To avoid a larger tax increase, the budget relies in part on the use of $1.25 million from the school department’s fund balance, money carried over from the current year. The fund balance received an influx of cash in 2011 from the federal stimulus program, some of which school officials had set aside to help offset expenses in the proposed budget. Taking $1.2 million would leave $882,000 in the fund balance. And no additional federal stimulus funding is expected.

Ringrose objection

Larry Ringrose, the only board member to vote against the school budget, cited the use of so much of the fund balance as his reason. He favored using less fund balance this year, so there would be more available next year.

“I’m going to vote no on the budget,” Ringrose said. “It comes down to the fund balance. I think we should split it between this year and next.”

Ringrose was the only person to comment before board members voted to approve the budget at a meeting at Capital Area Technical Center that lasted less than 10 minutes.

The budget as proposed is $106,000, or 0.4 percent, less than the current year’s budget.

However because of revenue decreases, it would require a property tax increase of about $400,000, or just less than 2 percent.

Many cuts proposed

Cuts in the budget include a $45,000 reduction in the legal budget; concurrent elementary school bus runs, $140,000; a new boiler at CATC, $75,000; leasing, instead of buying, technology, saving $86,000 this year; elementary school furniture, $52,000; all freshmen sports, $27,000; a half-time gifted and talented teaching position, $25,000; a half-time art teaching position, $24,000; the reduction of middle school sports teams to one team per sport for the entire level; reducing adult education support staff and instruction, $26,000; and a reduction, from full-time to half-time, of an English as a second language teaching position.

On to the council

The budget will be forwarded to the Augusta City Council, which ultimately approves both the city and school budgets.

According to state school funding estimates, Augusta would receive $12.3 million in state education funding, which is $470,000 less than it received last year, an approximately 3.7 percent decrease.

Augusta’s current budget is $1.4 million less than what the state’s Essential Programs and Services funding model indicates a school system like Augusta’s should raise for education, according to Business Manager Karla Miller.

Board members Wednesday tabled a proposal to name Aetna Insurance as the health insurance carrier for non-represented and administrative employees, more than 30 workers.

Superintendent Cornelia Brown said she learned Tuesday that Aetna had not included eight people in the quote it gave to Augusta, so the vote was postponed to give time for them to be included.

Insurance is currently provided to most covered Augusta school employees by Anthem Blue Cross, through the Maine Education Association Benefits Trust.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com